Birmingham technology could defend UK against power blackouts

Technology developed at the University of Birmingham could protect the UK and other countries from national electricity blackouts. Britain has high-voltage, direct-current (HVDC) transmission links with neighbouring countries, including France, Ireland, Holland and Norway - an efficient way of transporting electricity, but vulnerable to alternating-current (AC) faults. Scientists at Birmingham have developed a solution using controllable capacitors that will ensure the system would never have to be shut down - eliminating the risk of power blackouts. Xiao-Ping Zhang, Professor of Electrical Power Systems and Smart Grid Director of the Birmingham Energy Institute, commented: "The electrical power superhighway is already happening and more HVDC transmission links are in the pipeline. Existing solutions to the problem of AC vulnerability work in some situations, but not in others. "Our approach is fundamentally different and solves the problem completely. It works whatever the situation, keeping HVDCs operational and bringing the system back to normal very quickly - it will always avoid having to shut down the system." Birmingham's proposed approach involves converting DC power into AC power, which would help to make the system more reliable, as unlike existing line commutated converter (LCC) HVDC technology, the proposed 'Flexible LCC HVDC' is not vulnerable to AC faults.